1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a pressure sensitive element and to a sensor comprising such an element.
More particularly, the invention is concerned with a device for measuring pressures ranging from a few millibars to at least one bar.
2. Prior Art
For measuring pressures in this range use has first of all been made of pressure gauges (or manometers) involving the deformation of a thin diaphragm by the pressure to be measured. The basic phenomenon is thus mechanical. Firstly, these pressure gauges are bulky and secondly they do not enable a remote reading of the pressure measurements since the link between the deformed diaphragm and the display means is entirely mechanical. In this same pressure range use has also been made of devices which involve piezo-resistive sensor or banks of piezo-resistive sensors. The drawback of such devices is first that they are costly and liable to destruction by overpressure and secondly that they provide an analogical signal which must therefore be converted into digital form to enable subsequent numerical processing. Consequently apparatus involving exhausted chambers mostly are not provided with devices for measuring pressures in this range thereby adversely affecting their operational reliability.